I had to remove the right side exhaust pipe in order to get to the gear oil fill plug,it was frozen and almost stripped by my efforts. anyway I am unable to fit the pipe back on all the way, it stops about an inch short of lining up with bolt. the problem seems to be the asbestos? gaskit inside the pipe. it will not allow me to slip the pipe all the way ,any suggestions on doing this. it seems like i would have to cut the gasket in half in order to get this done. thanks ted

I don't know what to tell you about your muffler other than if it came off, it can go back on. But, why in the heck did you remove it in the first place? I just changed my gear oil last weekend. It took all of 15 minutes including drain time and I didn't even have to wipe down the muffler, much less remove it. Do yourself a favor and next time, get yourself a short piece of flexible tubing (1/4" or so...I used aquarium air hose) attach it to the spout of the oil bottle and feed it over the muffler and down into the fill hole.